Alex explains Fenerbahce exit

Brazilian midfielder Alex de Souza has held a press conference upon his return to his homeland to discuss his tumultuous recent exit from Fenerbahce.

Alex, 35, departs the Turkish club after eight years in which he has become a fan favourite, recently having a statue erected in his honour outside the club's ground.

The midfielder paid tribute to the good work of Fenerbahce president Aziz Yildirim, who disputed the player's version of events regarding his exit earlier this week, and accepted blame for the fall-out.

Alex told reporters: "I'll start by talking for me. In any situation where someone is hurt there is blame on all parties involved. I accept that.

"Everyone is encouraging me to retire, but I want to sign with another club for two years. I will play two more years, then I will retire. I didn't cry as much in my whole childhood as I have this week."

The former Palmeiras, Cruzeiro and Coritiba star did, though, want to set straight some issues that had been raised by some in his time at the club.

He continued: "At the club, I always heard that I liked money a lot, that I fought for it. That's not true. I was the captain and I fought, but not for me. I always played to my contract and fought for titles, but an employee. Sometimes this was worth a lot to him. As a captain, I took this approach."

A 49-cap Brazil international, Alex continued in a similar line of remourse to accept that he had been guilty of posting messages on Twitter that should have remained private in the wake of his exit.

One area on which he showed little remourse, though, was in his dealings with manager Aykut Kocaman. It was a dispute with Kocaman, who had dropped the veteran from the side, that led to his eventual exit.

Alex finished: "I was always accepted it when we [the team] had problems. The team has to evolve, you have to train hard and improve - you can't just buy a player. In three years, nothing improved.

"He just said "this is Turkey, it works like this". Then I started to wonder if it was worth continuing.

"I was very upset that he wouldn't celebrate. It's a big club with a vibrant support, I decided many games for the club, then saw the images on my TV and the coach wasn't celebrating. It upset me."